Accidental Discharge

in 3 years with my former agency, i was exposed to 4 AD's-all of them were negligent, and all will always be. all had chances to go really wrong, but by the grace of you know who, didn't.

know that every time you or someone else have a loaded mag IN, and that slide is sent forward, a round is always charged...this goes for every weapon, semi or auto, rifle/shotgun/handgun...always! have to be mindful of that...even if you're the bystander!

very scary situation, that poeple you're supposed to trust in that they know what they're doing, will let their guard down...that's not to say that couldn't ever happen to you either, so watch yourself, for your sake...because even though you may not be the one to pull the trigger, that's not to say that round, or seperated jacket from ricochet won't head in your direction.

In the original post the friend said he always pulls the trigger after putting the mag in, but the slid is forward when he does it. I believe what took place in this case was change of behavior. He most likely does not hand his gun over to others often and there for this was a change in behavior for him. His mind was on taking about his gun and not thinking about being safe. This is why when I train people on dry fire and such I tell them to triple check the chamber for clear. One time is not enuf, two times is getting there three times you have it set in my mind, have pulled the slid back three times and know the gun is good to go. I also tell them to use a safe back stop, remove all live ammo from the training area and tell them selves this is dry fire three times.

A person needs to stay focused on what they are doing while handling a gun, day dreaming and guns are not a god thing. If you are going to pull the trigger, like with a Glock, check it three times. Stay safe

All of my centerfire semi-auto handguns have decocking levers. I always carry with a chambered round, but I leave the decocker in position. This prevents the gun from being discharged even if the trigger is pulled. Prior to being able to fire a round, the decocker must be flipped up, like a safety. This requires a conscious effort on the part of the shooter, and is also another lifesaving precaution in the unlikely event that I am forcibly disarmed since it would buy extra time before the gun can be brought into battery. I learned very early on through the use of BP revolvers to always carry with an empty chamber under the hammer.

__________________Guns Have Only Two Enemies-Rust and Politicians"The United States Constitution (c) 1791 - All Rights Reserved"If Guns Kill, Do Pencils Mis-spell Words?Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body - USMC"Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum"

I appreciate this post as it is a good reminder of what can happen. At the Concealed Carry class yesterday, I was happy when our instructor said that even though it would take longer, he would only check each of us on the range one at a time, and did not allow multiple shooters as many classes did. Before leaving, I told my daughter who was taking the class with me to be particularly wary at the range because you never knew what training those around us would have.

Wow. I'm glad you made it out of that situation safely with no one hurt.

I teach the "negligent discharge" terminology, whether it be to military, law enforcement, or civilians. Accidental discharges are very rare, but it should result in no one being hit because we keep our weapons pointed in a safe direction. Even if you had the purest of AD's (ie "slam fires"), the gun wouldn't be pointed at someone when it would have occured.

As far as your original question:

Unfortunately, the military is... and I adamantly disagree with it, along with the whole "unloaded weapon" philosophy. Here's why:

The military is real big on "clearing barrels", which is a barrel full of sand. When a soldier/sailor/airman/marine (from here on out referred to as "soldier") enters a building (even in Iraq "inside the wire"), the soldier is supposed to check/clear the weapon, then "verify" the weapon is cleared by placing the muzzle into a small opening on top of the barrel, and...

...PULL THE TRIGGER!

When the hammer falls, it SHOULD only go "click", but if it does go "BANG!", then the soldier faces punishement for the ND, but it ensured no one got hurt.

My big disagreement with the clearing barrels are the fact that the military is promoting complacency by making soldiers carry around unloaded weapons. If all weapons were loaded at all times, the soldiers would have more respect for them, and that would cut out a LOT of horse-play I have seen, and my friend SSG Berry would still be with us today.

In October 2005, I had been out on patrol all night, and was sleeping in my tent. At a little after 7am, I was awakened by a loud "BANG!" In the tent next to mine, another NCO asked SSG Berry if his "weapon was loaded" because he saw a magazine in his 9mm Beretta. SSG Berry pulled the 9mm and pointed the muzzle under his chin and said, "if it would loaded, would I do this?" The next thing SSG Berry did was DIED.

A loaded weapon kept in a holster doesn't accidently go "BANG!" When I'm in a classroom, I feel more comfortable knowing every single holstered weapon is loaded as opposed to "guessing" if every weapon is cleared. I can't change the military's way of thinking, but in *MY* classroom, all holstered weapons MUST be loaded, and we train with "blue guns". There's no question or doubt that way.

Wow, I was on quite a soapbox with this post... sorry about that.

I'm sorry you lost a buddy but I've got to ask...was SSG Berry, a little OFF?
7 yrs Infantry here so I'm familiar with SOP on barrel clearing and also disagree with the "loaded phobia" that seems to permeate the military but JEEZE...putting a gun under your chin and pulling the trigger to prove it's not loaded would by number 2 on the all time "foolish things to do" list. Nubmer 1 would be pointing at someone else and doing the same thing.

He then inserted the magazine, sent the slide forward, pointed the gun at the pavement(we were in the middle of town) and then he pulled the trigger. BOOM! The gun went off.

Did everyone miss this part but me? There was nothing accidental about this! Pure stupidity IMO. Please excuse the tone of this posting but I waded through all of the posts and did not see where anyone had noticed that the fella chambered a round before pulling the triigger.

You were damn lucky there young man. I know plenty of folks in this forum who would never trust to be around that fella again. All it takes is one time. If you are going to release the slide, do it "before" you put the loaded magazine back in!

Very funny... Hey, you wouldn't happen to be from around Eatonton would you? I've been on Lake Oconee several times with friends. Not far from there myself. They used to have a great BBQ place out there with a big Hog outside. Closed now I believe..